http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2017/03/08/dolphins-bring-back-andre-branch-on-long A little mixed about this. Our DE situation was paper thin. I just hope Andre Branch is more than a one-year wonder on the last (only?) year of his previous contract.
I don't mind the idea of retaining one of our own. That's a good thing. Hopefully it's not a huge money deal though. I don't think he's worth big bucks. Have to wait and see the terms, but I do like the idea of bringing back our own guys and not creating more holes. Get Stills done now too. Fill two spots with starters, they're you're own guys who by all accounts have done it the right way while here and are getting rewarded (assuming we keep Stills) and that sends a good locker room message too I'd think.
Not sure if already posted...we resigned Mike Hull, Lafeyette Pitts, Anthony Steen, and Thomas Duarte.
Not sure of the financials yet but if they are agreeable then I'm ok with this move. Still need to draft a pass rusher but at least we don't have to expect the draftee to come in and contribute straight away now. I liked branch at times last season but do wonder if he was putting it out there in a contract year. Guess we will find out this season. Overall for me the pluses are that he's 2 years in the scheme now and showed talent in flashes, negatives are his play against the run and we've probably seen his ceiling.
It's a good signing because it fills a need and the hole it would have caused would have been too much to fix in this draft. I hope we still draft a DE, but it's not as important as LB and OL now.
Ouch. I'm happy to have him back, but I don't know about that price tag. His play will have to continue to elevate if he's going to earn all that money. Of note:
Terrible deal for a flat out bad player. Not sure where this idea is coming from that he is a good player at all, but he was part of the problem last year. He has graded out poorly in every single year he's played in the league on PFF. From his rookie year to last year, his grades have been 43.3, 58.7, 62.8, 41.7, and 56.4 last year. He is a flat out bad player. I dont care that we have a need at DE, signing a bad player at DE and saying we helped fill a need doesnt help fill the need. It means we further exacerbated the problem we have there. And he was even worse as a run defender then he was as a bad pass rusher. Just a horrific deal.
First, I doubt it's actually $9mil/year. Second, he's an average DE with the ability to get better. Third, we would have either drafted (and may still) a DE or picked one up in FA. They know what they have in Branch. Fourth, this is no where near a "horrific deal"...even if it turns out to be $9 mil per year. (Which I'd bet my dog it's not)
1st- Id assume it's not, even then, if it is anywhere near there, its a horrible deal. 2- No, by PFF who actually watches and grades every player and every play, he has been a bad player every single year he has been in the league, including last year when he was part of the problem along with Williams at that other DE spot. 3- Ya, we are going to add other players at DE, i'd certainly hope so. But Branch as a bad player for a 3 yr 27 million deal is absolutely horrible value in a cap controlled sport. It is the complete opposite of what the patriots do at just about every position. 4- We just re-signed a bad player for at the very least, a significant amount of money. That is a horrific deal. Sorry to break it to you guys, but IDK what you were watching, but this guy was a bad player last year and has been his entire career.
In 11 starts he had 6 sacks and 50 tackles with a very high number of QB hurries. He was decent last year and hopefully Burke and Gase know a little more than you about who is worth re-signing or not. lol
Exactly. Calm down on the numbers...now if it's 27 mil guaranteed, I might wince once or twice...but let's see what the guaranteed money is.
Except that he wasn't. Like what dont you get that those numbers dont tell you any part of the whole story? PFF watches every play and grades every play and player and is telling you that he is a flat out bad player and has been literally every single year of his career. There has not been 1 year in his career that he graded out as even a league average player, including last year, when he graded out as a bad/below average player.
In my opinion branch is a good backup de. He really didn't have a great year last year when wake and suh take up all of the double teams it means branch only had to beat one man most of the time and still he only managed five sacks. He also wasn't great at setting the edge or stopping the run. He is a good depth player im my opinion but we still need to sign or draft another quality starter on the edge. Sent from my F3111 using Tapatalk
Seriously man do you work for the dolphins or something? I have never seen you really criticize any of the main players, coaches or management you are always riding everybodies nuts and defending ****ty players, coaching and/or management decisions . Sent from my F3111 using Tapatalk
No. I just understand football better than you, IMO. Branch is a middle of the road DE with the possibility of being above average. You could argue that his contract is a little higher than you'd like it to be, but it's not horrible. The upside to retaining him at a slightly higher price is better than the alternative. Instilling a culture of keeping players that want to stay and get better is better than throwing away people because fans don't like them. There's a little more to it, but I won't confuse you any more. If you've never seen me criticize a Dolphins player or coach you're not paying attention.
I don't care how you try to spin it, 9 million dollars per season for andre branch means we are now grossly overpaying for a middle of the road de as you yourself just said. He was a big part of why we were so terrible against the run he can't set an edge worth a damn and he is just an average pass rusher. I just hope the deal is backloaded so we don't get too big of a cap hit this season and can cut him if he doesn't get better next season. Sent from my F3111 using Tapatalk
It's probably not 9mil per season. Even if it is, it's not horrible. It's widely reported that he's a great teammate with a high motor and upside. He does need to work on his run defense, but he's above average in regards to being a pass rusher.
He is not an above average pass rusher, I repeat everybody was double teaming wake and suh on the other side of the line all season long and he still only managed 5.5 sacks while wake even with all the double teaming and less playing time got more than twice as many sacks and alot more pressures. Branch's pass rush grade per PFF was just average not above average. He is not worth 9 million per year. Sent from my F3111 using Tapatalk
Yeah, it's obvious that you just look at PFF and make your conclusions. Do you know they're methodology? Do you understand their methodology? Can you explain their methodology? Saying all of that, have you heard someone like say, Belichick, speak about those methodologies? My guess would be "no" to all of those questions. Even so, Branch was given a contract that I would say is a little more than I would have guessed or wanted. However, it's not horrible.
No, I also watched every game last season myself and noticed branch could never generate a consistent pass rush eventhough he was very rarely double teamed while wak and suh were double teamed almost every play and still were able to get alot more consistent pressure on the qb than branch. Sent from my F3111 using Tapatalk
BTW we could have used some of that money to sign a guy like nick perry who is alot better pass rusher and edge defender than branch. Sent from my F3111 using Tapatalk
Way overpaid. Kudos to him, I guess. The only silver lining in this is that we won't be in a must-draft-DE-mode during the draft, like we were in 2014 with RT. What is the guarantee number?
PFF is 1000X more informed than you. Regardless of their methodology, they have done infinitely more research into not only branch, but everyone else around the league to see where his performance lines up across the league. The answer: poorly. He is not good, was a huge part of why we were bad on the opposite side of Wake last year, and has quite literally not once been good in his entire career. This is a horrific deal and spend a significant amount of our cap space to not come close to fixing a desperate need on our defense. this is a terrible deal. Like what about what this guy did last year, forgetting the PFF grades, makes anyone think he is a competent DE? We had 2 guys requiring double teams on our DL and our DL still sucked because of how bad Branch, Williams, Mitchell, and Phillips were. The fact that people thought he was worthy of this deal absolutely blows my mind. And its not even like this guy has previous years of success to fall back on. He has literally only shown himself to be straight up bad in the NFL.
Salary cap is much higher this year so it's not as bad of a signing as it looks. Also, not everyone is Wake or Suh. Let's wait and see the guaranteed $$$ first.
I'm not a huge fan of this deal. Seems like alot of money to give a player of his caliber. More than I would have paid him anyways. Glad he's back though. Fills a hole on a starting basis. Shows the locker room that if you come in, do your job the right way, you'll be rewarded.
Ya!!!! **** informed opinions. Lets make decisions based on heart and a few plays we remember!!! That tells us the real story as opposed to people watching every play in depth!!!